You may have noticed that our site has undergone a major re-org this week. A shakeup, a re-thinking of the way we present our mats.
Previously, we organized by artistic aesthetic:
| Josephine | Sophisticated, stylish and street smart, classic, refined and beautiful. |
| Hannah | Cool and not too serious, with a touch of sunshine and coastal flare. |
| Sawyer | Peaceful and centered, a lover of the ground below and the sky above. |
| Aisha | Our world traveler, who loves discovery and adventure. |
| Betty | Retro and vintage, graced with beauty, refinement and whimsy. |
| Brianna | The sprit of an artist and the heart of an activist! |
If you’re like me, it’s easy to love every one of our collections. I adore the sunshiney designs found in the Hannah collection just as much as the dreamy skyscapes of the Sawyer. And with all that love it’s sometimes hard to make a decision. Which one of you do I love the most? Which child is my favorite?
This feeling of being stuck comes up for me a lot. Not just in picking my favorite yoga mat design, but also in life.
- Sometimes I feel stuck inside my emotions.
- Sometimes I feel stuck inside my ever-repeating patterns.
- Sometimes I hear my tiny-voice insecurities stuck on repeat like a playlist that won’t shuffle.
But inside my yoga practice I found a method that works for me. A purposeful way of getting unstuck.
One of my daily practices is to Be Intentional. To do things on purpose, to be deliberate, to pause and consider, to have a premeditated plan.
According to yogic philosophy, an intention is called a sankalpa. This word can be translated as a vow that has been birthed in the very core of your heart — the place of your deepest truth. To connect to your heart’s deepest intention we need to turn our awareness inward. Doing so is another way to get unstuck.
A good question for all of us to consider: What are my intentions?
If it helps, here are some intentions I’ve been reflecting on recently:
- To love and accept myself fully so I can love and accept others.
- To practice being non-judgmental.
- To invite gentle and soft reactions into my thinking.
- To cultivate my personal power.
- To send energy to those in my life who struggle.
- To develop openness in my body as a metaphor for openness in my mind.
- To invite calm and peace into my thinking when it comes to my children instead of worry and fear.
Because of this focus on my personal intentions, my thoughts wandered to how we organize our designs at Big Raven Yoga. Some of our customers have had a really hard time making a decision and choosing a mat because they love all of them. Of course, I’m always flattered by this — but ultimately it reminds me of being stuck.
I get unstuck when I do things on purpose, when I’m intentional.
So we decided to try this at Big Raven Yoga too. We’ve reorganized our designs (and added some new ones) based on intention.
Of course, intentions are deeply personal, the core of your truth. Whatever you’re purposefully bringing into your life, we thought we might be able to help in some small way.
With that I’m thrilled to announce our new collections:
Happiness
Energy
Tranquility
Authenticity
Acceptance
Compassion
Our collections represent our yogis and what they love, what they aspire to, what they drive toward. We love creating, designing, and organizing this way. With each new design we get to know our customers — our yogis — in a deeper and more profound way. This personal connection to our customers has been a fantastic experience for us all. Whether we’re designing a new mat for ourselves, or a gift for someone special, a yoga studio, or giddy bridesmaids, for a team of artists like ourselves, being able to create something that others love with such ardor is an incredible blessing. Our yogis' passion has fanned the flames of our creativity and fueled our restless artistic energy. Being able to paint our visions onto dramatic 2' × 6' canvases, canvases that are actually durable and useful everyday objects is an added bonus. We love that our artwork can be more than simply admired on a wall.
We’re so excited about where this purposeful planning has taken us, and even more excited about where we will all go together!
in·ten·tion·al /inˈten(t)SH(ə)n(ə)l/ adjective
- done on purpose; deliberate.“intentional wrongdoing and harm”
- deliberate, calculated, conscious, done on purpose, intended, planned, meant, considered, studied, knowing, willful, wanton, purposeful, purposive, purposed, premeditated, preplanned, thought out in advance, prearranged, preconceived, predetermined; aforethought; voluntary
P.S. One of the collections that we’re most excited about is our new Compassion collection! This is our passion project, and it’s fueled by our desire to be good citizens of the world. When you purchase a yoga mat from the Compassion collection, a portion of the proceeds will be sent directly to the featured organization, and good karma will be sent directly to you!